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Sunday, January 18, 2015
January 18, 2015 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 2:48 PM :: 3641 Views

OHA Chair Lindsey: Rescind CEO’s Authority, Let Staff Know Who is Boss

Senator McCain’s Jones Act Amendment: Good for America

New Medicaid Enrollees: Many Need Addiction Treatment

The Ten Percent Solution

Spending cuts take priority in Desperate Drive to Fund Union Contracts

SA: "I would say we're going to have a very creative session," Sen. J. Kalani English, the Senate majority leader, said last week. "The trend that I see is that in the years there is money, it's very easy to create new programs and spend.

"In the years that there's no money, creativity comes out. People find ways to do things. … Look for people coming together that we would normally not see coming together to work on issues." ...

"I would say, generally, that the inclination is to not raise taxes," Saiki (D, Downtown-Kakaako-McCully) said.

Republicans applauded the call to rein in spending.

Sen. Sam Slom, the Senate's lone Republican, said his office would be preparing an "alternative state budget" that would be posted online highlighting areas that could be trimmed or cut to reduce spending.

"The difference between our state budget and that proposed by the majority in the Legislature is that it goes in a different direction," Slom (Diamond Head-Kahala-Hawaii Kai) said. "We don't believe we can continue to have increases in spending and debt and so we've found ways of cutting what we consider to be programs that are questionable or can't be defended.

"We want to reduce that spending and leave more money in the pockets of individuals."

Rep. Beth Fukumoto Chang, the House minority leader, expressed similar sentiment.

"Focusing on improving existing programs, infrastructure and limiting new spending are all important goals that we share with the majority. However, it's only half of the picture," Fukumoto Chang (R, Mililani-Mililani Mauka) said. "With a potential military downsizing on the horizon, we need to get serious about job creation and diversifying our economy."

Slom said he would keep a watchful eye on whether Democrats' actions match their speeches.

"We don't want to just make proposals. We don't want to just talk," he said. "We want results and we want results that are going to be beneficial to all residents in the state of Hawaii."

read ... Leaders expect more creativity as spending cuts take priority

Ige Budget: No Increases for State Programs

AP: Ige is refining a draft of the state's two-year $25.7 billion budget and says there won't be increases for state programs. State spending will increase, but mostly to cover paychecks, health care and pensions. Ige's communications director, Cindy McMillan, said the governor is still working on the budget and will release his package of bills Jan. 26.

Despite the tight budget, agencies are lining up with requests. The state's public hospital system is facing a $24.6 million budget shortfall and may have to close facilities or reduce services if it doesn't get help, Hawaii Health Systems Corporation CEO Linda Rosen said.

"I don't think there's an intention to be alarmist, but it's the reality that hard choices have to be made," Rosen said. "I don't think anybody wants to close facilities."

Several hospitals in the chain, which spans the state, rely heavily on Medicaid payments. As a result, the hospitals' revenues don't fully cover expenses, Rosen said.

The Hawaii Health Connector, the state-run health exchange, also will be requesting money to address a projected deficit of up to $19 million over the next two years.

"We know the projection is for budget neutrality in 10 years, but the Legislature needs to determine whether that's accurate," Saiki said.

Adding to the financial strain, the County of Honolulu plans to request an extension of a rail tax to support Oahu's financially challenged rapid transit project, an appeal that could be copied by other counties, Saiki said.

The lone Republican state senator promises opposition to such spending. "Not over my dead body," Sam Slom said.

Lawmakers also will push for medical marijuana dispensaries, said Rep. Della Au Bellati....

State Sen. Russell Ruderman plans to introduce a bill to decriminalize marijuana, but Saiki says that's unlikely to pass.

Partly in recognition of the tight fiscal times, Slom and other lawmakers will push for increased government oversight to make sure money is being spent properly.

"Our whole mission is based on more transparency and more accountability in the Legislature," Slom said. "Everybody talks about these two things, but unfortunately we haven't seen too much of it recently."

Slom plans to seek audits of the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii. And Bellati hopes to increase oversight of the state's Medicaid program.

read ... Thank Neil for those Contracts

Caldwell Hopes You Don't Notice 12.5% Tax Hike

Borreca: Hoping that you won't notice a continued 12.5 percent tax increase seems about as realistic as Honolulu officials hoping that you won't notice the huge, concrete heavy rail system plowing through Oahu neighborhoods.

But, that appears to be the plan for city officials as they line up to lobby the Legislature for more and more money.

When former Mayor Mufi Hannemann led the charge to raise Oahu's general excise tax from 4 percent to 4.5 percent, it was acknowledged as a way to pay for the rail line. The law says it will end in 2022, but now the city wants to explore keeping the tax increase forever....

Ten years ago, when the Legislature approved the rail tax increase, the Hawaii Tax Foundation estimated that the new tax would take $900 annually from a family of four....

read ... Caldwell Tax Hike #1

Bills advance as Beach is used as excuse for 61% tax hike on Waikiki Businesses 

SA: A plan to get Waikiki property owners to pool their resources to help pay for maintenance and restoration of Oahu's most iconic beach cleared its first hurdle before the City Council Zoning Committee on Thursday.

Bill 81 allows for special improvement tax districts to be created for shoreline improvement, restoration and protection projects. Bill 82 creates the Waikiki special improvement tax district.

Both bills now go to the full Council for the second of three necessary votes on Feb. 18.

They were introduced by former Councilman Stanley Chang, who represented Waikiki; Council Chairman Ernie Martin; and Councilman Ikaika Anderson.

The effort is being spearheaded by the Waikiki Improvement Association.

The initial plan calls for the district to tax the owners of all commercial properties in Waikiki 7.63 cents per $1,000 of the assessed value of their land with the goal of collecting $600,000 annually.

Waikiki property owners already pay into the Waikiki Business Improvement District fund — anywhere from 12.5 cents to 50 cents per $1,000, depending on their location — in addition to their regular property tax bills. A beach improvement district fee would be added to those costs.

(7.63 / 12.50 = 61% tax hike)

Rick Egged, Waikiki Improvement Association president, said the new beach tax district would have a board of directors that would decide what other beach-related activities it would help fund under a management plan.

read ... Caldwell Tax Hike #2

Sequestration will force tough choices for Army in Hawaii

SA: If this law remains as it is, the Army will have to make tough choices to mitigate the impacts. Fort Shafter and Schofield Barracks are among 30 locations across the nation that may face significant cuts. For Hawaii, in the worst case scenario, this means the possible reduction of 19,800 soldiers and civilian employees, with accompanying families and support services. The potential effects both at the local and national level are considerable....

Hawaii hosts over 22,500 soldiers and our families, or roughly 44 percent of all active military forces based here. One of every three defense dollars spent in the state comes from the Army's presence. By our calculations, the U.S. Army's impact to Hawaii's economy was in excess of $3 billion in 2013 alone.

The Army is gathering public input as it considers the effects of possible force reductions. Representatives from Army headquarters in Washington, D.C., and I have scheduled community listening sessions as the primary venue for gathering public comments on the impact of such cuts.

Two listening sessions are scheduled: Jan. 27 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki, and on Jan. 28 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Leilehua High School in Wahiawa. Regardless of one's position on this issue, I encourage all interested parties to provide input directly to the Army in these sessions.

read ... Tough Choices

Hawaii Congressional Delegates Pretend they're Influential

Commission rejects Senators' proposal to appoint co-chiefs for HPD

SA: "Such action is outside the scope of authority of the Honolulu Police Commission" as set forth in Hawaii and county laws, Chairman Ron Taketa wrote in a letter Friday. In his two-paragraph letter, Taketa said the suggested change also is not permitted under state and county laws.

Taketa's letter was in response to a letter from four state senators who suggested the Police Commission appoint a co-chief or team of co-chiefs to assist Police Chief Louis Kealoha in managing the department.

"Constituents and other residents have expressed their concerns to us regarding the chief, and we feel a co-team of senior officers involved in the oversight of HPD is a proper course to take at this time," said the senators' letter, which was signed by Sens. Will Espero, Rosalyn Baker, Breene Harimoto and Russell Ruderman....

"There's issues and concerns out there," said Espero, added that he is working on legislation for a statewide law enforcement board. "We'll see whether things can be done to alleviate the situations or to help regain some of the trust that has been lost."

read ... Rejection

UH is ill-positioned to take its time seeking a new AD

Shapiro:  This "bumbye" attitude plays against a financial crisis in which the athletic department faces a new $4 million deficit barely a year after being forgiven a $17 million debt.

Football, the cash cow, is noncompetitive in a second-rate conference and must pay opponents $1.3 million a year to play here before dwindling crowds.

The basketball coach was fired and the best player disqualified in an NCAA scandal, and the program faces painful sanctions.

Legislators and private donors are reluctant to provide desperately needed funding without a road map, and player recruitment is hobbled by the uncertainty.

We need to end the lame-duck limbo and get somebody working on these problems soon, not in six months....

The drawn-out UH search process, which culminates with finalists being paraded for a public vetting where disgruntled faculty and graduate students shout insults at them, is broken.

The degrading drama, along with Hawaii's reputation for poisonous politics and skimpy resources, has kept away the best candidates — locally and nationally....

read ... Shapiro

Star-Adv: Good ideas for housing finally in mix

SA: The proposal that made the biggest splash last week was an announcement from the Hawaii Public Housing Authority of plans to repurpose the area surrounding the agency's current office in Palama for low-income units....

The state plans to add 400 units to the public housing at nearby The Towers at Kuhio Park, and in November HPHA tapped three firms as master developers to convert Mayor Wright Homes into another mixed-income and mixed-use housing complex....

The fact that security and a modicum of comfort and convenience are human essentials is also plainly seen in the initial results of Hono-lulu's Housing First initiative. Through a collaborative effort of nonprofit service providers and enabled by city and federal funds, the first 63 homeless clients who had been living on the streets of Waikiki have been sheltered or housed....

read ... Housing

Hawaii Has Highest Proportion of State Employees Per Capita

TL: Florida, never a leader among the states in public employment, continues to have one of the smallest state workforces when compared proportionately with other states. It has the lowest ratio in the country of state workers per 10,000 residents at 108. That ratio is roughly half the national average of 211 workers and a fifth that of the national leader, Hawaii, at 513. Florida also has the lowest state worker payroll cost based on population, $37 per resident, compared with the national of $76 and Hawaii's $168.

(NOTE: Hawaii is the only state with a single state-wide school system.)

read ... Hawaii is #1

Schatz Fishes for Federal Workers Votes With Fake Wage Hike Bill

KGI: ...More than 21,000 federal employees in Hawaii — and hundreds on Kauai — could be on the receiving end of a raise next year. (And on the other hand, maybe not.) 

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, along with Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, proposed a 3.8 percent pay increase to federal workers for 2016 to reward those who underwent non-paid days off, and little or no salary increases during The Great Recession years....

Schatz’s office couldn’t provide an estimate of what the overall increase would cost, but praised the employees for their hard work.  (Doesn't really mater.  This bill is DOA anyway.  Its just for show to the rubes back home....)

“Hawaii’s federal employees are some of the hardest-working public servants in the country,” Schatz said, adding in a press release that federal employees have lost over $1 billion dollars in salary and benefits due to sequestration and a three-year pay freeze from January 2011 to December 2013.

Karen Lightfoot, a representative for Schatz’s Washington D.C. office, said often times bills aren’t scored — or given a cost estimate — when they’re introduced.  (Because CBO doesn't like to waste time on bills they know are going nowhere.) The Congressional Budget Office, which provides Congress with nonpartisan analyses for economic and budget decisions, often scores them after their introduction — so an estimate on the raises might not exist at this point, she said.

But Lightfoot said the bill (pretends to) covers about 86 percent of the federal civilian workforce. Specifically, general schedule employees and those in Foreign Service, Veterans Health Administration, and prevailing rates, which are blue-collar type employees, like plumbers and welders....

Kauai has 530 federal employees, according to the Department of Labor.

Stefan Alford, Pacific Missile Range Facility spokesman, said the bill would affect about 120 federal employees at the base. He declined to comment, as did U.S. Department of the Interior employees at the Daniel K. Inouye Kilauea Point Lighthouse, which shut down for nearly a week in October 2013 during sequestration, or automated budget cuts.  (Wow.  This reporter worked hard to make sure every voter knew who to vote for in 2016.)

read ... Fishing for Votes

Oahu Dems Agree to Let Aaron Johanson into Democratic party

CB: The Executive Committee of the Oahu County Democratic Party voted unanimously Friday to accept Hawaii state Rep. Aaron Ling Johanson’s application as a Democrat.

“We applaud the legislators along with party members who provided written and oral testimony and most importantly very intriguing questions to Representative Johanson,” the Oahu County Democratic Party posted on its Facebook page.

Oahu County Chairman Bixby Ho confirmed the news Saturday.

Johanson, seen as a rising young star in the Hawaii Republican Party, shocked his colleagues last month by announcing his switch to the other side.

LINK: Photo of Aaron Johanson in Dem T Shirt

read ... Gays Give Permission

Chicago No Longer Seems a Lock to Host Obama’s Library

NYT: To the shock and horror of residents here, that left Columbia University in New York, where Mr. Obama received his undergraduate degree, as the apparent front-runner. And suddenly a fait accompli has become an open question.

read ... And Many are Alarmed

Former Larry Mehau Property Sells for $5M

SA: According to property records, the company Malu­hia Hale Lani Farms LLC bought the lot in 2002 for $750,000. The home, according to marketing materials, was put together in Canada where the logs are from. Then the house was deconstructed, shipped to Hawaii and reassembled.

Besides a 7,000-square-foot main house with four bedrooms, five bathrooms and five half-bathrooms, the property includes a guest cabin, a seven-stall horse stable, a riding arena and a 3,480-square-foot tractor barn, according to sales materials.

The lot, which has ocean views and was once owned by Big Island rancher Larry Mehau, is part of a residential subdivision on agricultural land called Wai­ki‘i Ranch, covering more than 3,000 acres. The community, where homesites are generally 10 to 40 acres, includes a polo field, an equestrian and rodeo facility, a clubhouse with a rental apartment, a recreation center with fitness equipment and a racquetball court.

read ... Waikii Ranch

Lava comes closest to Highway 130 since start of flow

HTH: An active breakout of the June 27 lava flow has advanced about 120 yards since Friday morning, bringing the lava closer to Highway 130 than it has ever been before.

read ... Lava comes closest to Highway 130 since start of flow

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